Harness frame for looms



April 22, 1952 L, M, DORMAN HARNESS FRAME FOR LooMs Filed DSC. 22, 1948 El l l l l ig. Z. m- RVZ @K9/9 zl/9 E zz Z/@f/O U @ze INVENTOR. Leonard Morman. By@ C rid Patented Apr. 22, 1952 imnNEss FRAME Fon LooMs Leonard M. Dorman, Meadville, Pa., assigner to Talon, Inc., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application December 22, 1948, Serial No. 66,705

4 Claims.

This invention relates to looms, and particularly to an improved harness or heddle frame for looms adapted for weaving narrow fabrics, such as tapes, webbing, ribbon, etc.

The harness or heddle frame of the present invention is particularly adapted for looms of the so-called shuttleless type wherein the weft or filler threads are projected through the shed of the warps by a filling finger or weft needle and wherein another device, usually a knitting needle disposed on the opposite side of the shed, cooperates with the weit needle to catch the loop of weft threads projected through the shed thereby, with such device or knitting needle retaining the loops of iilling or weft thread disposed in the shed by the weit needle and knitting each loop through the preceding loop so as to provide a knitted salvage along that edge.

It is one of the objects of the present invention to provide an improved harness or heddle frame for such looms which is simple and inexpensive in its construction and, at the same time, efficient and eective in its use.

It is another object of the invention to provide an improved harness or heddle frame for suchr It is a further object of this invention to provide a harness `or heddle frame for such looms which is small and compact, yet strong and rugged enough to withstand the use for which it is intended.

Various other objects and advantages of this invention will be more apparent in the course of the following specification, and will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, there is shown for the purpose of illustration, one embodiment which my invention may assume in practice.

In these drawings:

Fig. l is an enlarged vertical sectional view through the harness or heddle frame of the present invention, showing it incorporated with the jack of a loom;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional View taken on line 3--3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on line 4-4 of Fig. l; and

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary view of one of the heddles, showing the eye arrangement therein.

Referring more particularly to the drawings,

the harness or heddle frame of my invention consists of a rectangular substantially inverted U- 'shaped member 2 made preferably from a piece of inherently resilient wire or spring steel having side or leg portions 3 which member is ladapted to be attached to the jacks 4 of the loom are welded or otherwise suitably attached to the upper end of the bar-like member 5.

In the free end of each of the leg or side portions 3 of the member 2, there is arranged a hookshaped portion 8 which portions are disposed between the plates 6 and in engagement with the pins l. In other words, the hook-shaped portions 8 due to the resiliency of the leg portions 3 are snapped into position and in engagement with the pins 1 with the leg or side portions tending to spring out away from each other so as to force the hook-shaped portions carried thereby into engagement with the pins.

Within the member 2, there is arranged a pair of spaced-apart horizontally disposed heddle bars 9 and I0 with one arranged adjacent the top of the frame, and the other adjacent the bottom thereof. These bars 9 and I0 extend through two pairs of elongated aligned apertures I2 and I3, respectively, arranged in the respective leg portions 3 of the frame. On one end of each of the bars 9 and I0, there is arranged an enlarged or deformed portion I4 and I5, respectively, so as to prevent these ends of the bars from passing through the apertures in the side or leg portions of the frame.

portions I 5 and Il, respectively, with these hookshaped portions being disposed toward each other. i The heddle bars 9 and I 0 are mounted in the frame by inserting them through the apertures in one of the leg portions, and through the On the opposite ends of each of the bars 9 and I0, there are arranged hook-shaped member I8.

on the outer side of the opposite or other leg portion of the frame. Between the hook-shaped portions It and l1 of the bars 9 and i0, respectively, there is positioned an inherently resilient, vertically disposed retaining member it in the form of a bar which is preferably slotted at each end so as to provide forked end portions iS which are adapted to iit in and cooperate with the respective hook-shaped portions i and li to lock releasably the bars 9 and l0 in the frame.

There is arranged within the member 2, a plurality of heddles preferably formed from relatively fiat thin resilient metallic stock. At each end of each of the heddles 20, there is arranged therethrough an elongated rectangular-shaped aperture 2i which aperture is slightly larger than the cross section of the bars 9 and I0 on which they are mounted. Thus, it will be seen that the heddles 20 are threaded on and positioned slideably on the heddle bars 9 and l0 with the heddle bars passing through the respective apertures 2i in the ends of the heddles. By such an arrangement, it will be seen that the heddles are arranged on the bars 9 and I0 so as to be movable thereto and floatingly arranged relative to the frame. Centrally of each of the heddles 20, there is formed therein an eye 22 through which the warp thread is adapted to be threaded and passes from the source of supply to the loom.

It will be seen that the heddles 20 are disposed loosely within the frame between the sides thereof, and that the retaining member I8 is disposed between the hook-shaped ends I6 and I1 of the heddles 9 and I0, respectively, on the outer side of the frame and that the heddles are prevented from becoming displaced from the heddle bars due to the provision of this spring retaining If it is desired to replace or remove any of the heddles from the heddle bars, the retaining member I8 is removed from itslocking engagement with the hook-shaped portions I6 and Il of the heddle bars 9 and l0, respectively, merely by springing it outwardly from the side of the frame and removing it from the hookshaped portions of the bars. lt' will be seen then that the horizontal bars 9 and Il] can then be moved laterally through the openings in the sides of the heddle frame, thereby permitting replacement or removal of the heddles. After the required number of heddles have been replaced or removed from the bars, the bars are re-inserted in their respective openings in the sides of the frame, and the retaining member I8 is again positioned so as to engage the respective hookshaped portions i6 and I7 of the heddle bars merely by springing it into place so as again to lock the heddle bars 9 and l0 in the frame.

As a result of my invention, it will be seen that there is provided an improved harness or heddle frame which can be easily and quickly attached to or removed from the jacks of the loom without disturbing the warp ends. This isa decided advantage in case of a breakdown of the loom and when it is necessary to remove the loom from the line for repairs. It will be seen that the loom can be conveniently removed from the line byy merely removing the harness frames without removing the warp threads from the heddles. This saves the laborious and tedious operation of rethreading the warp ends into and through the heddles after the loom has been repaired and is again in readiness for service, as the heddle frames can be easily and quickly snapped into place on the jacks and the loom is in readiness immediately for operation as the Warp ends have not been disturbed but have been maintained in position in the heddles. Also, it will be seen that the heddles can be easily and conveniently removed or replaced in the frame without disturbing the warp ends disposed in other heddles that may be positioned therein. Y

While I have shown and described an embodiment which my invention may assume in practice, it will be understood that this embodiment is merely for the purpose of illustration and description, and that other forms may be devised within the scope of my invention as defined in the appended claims.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. A harness frame for looms of the class described, comprising an inverted substantially U- shaped member having leg portions which are inherently resilient, a hook-shaped engaging portion arranged in the lower end oi each oi said leg portions each of which is adapted to engage attaching portions carried by the jack of the loom, said leg portions adapted to be snapped into engagement with the attaching portions of the jack with the hook-shaped portions yieldably engaging the attaching portions whereby the frame is removably and resiliently held in position on the loom jack, a plurality or" heddles arranged in said frame between said leg portions, and means carried by said frame :for holding and supporting said heddles therein.

2. A harness frame for looms of the class described, as defined in claim 1, wherein the means for holding and supporting the heddles in the frame consists of a pair of spaced-apart horizontally-arranged bar-like members which extend through apertures in the leg portions of said frame, said bar-like members extending through apertures arranged in each end or said heddles.

3. In a harness frame for looms of the class described, a substantially U-shaped member having leg portions which are inherently resilient, means carried at the lower end of each of said leg portions for attaching the frame to the jack of the loom, a pair of spaced-apart plates arranged on the end of said jack, means arranged between said plateswith which said leg attaching means engages to hold said frame removably and Aresiliently between said plates on said jack, a

plurality of heddles arranged in said frame between said leg portions, and means carried by said frame member for supporting said heddles.

4. In a harness frame for looms of the class described, the combination as defined in claim 3, y

wherein the means for attaching the frame to the loom jack consists of hook-shaped portions arranged on the end of each of the leg portions which engage with a pair of spaced-apart pin members extending between the plates carried by the loom jack with the ends of the leg portions adapted to be positioned in the space between the plates when mounted on the loom jack.

LEONARD M. DORMAN,

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,748,001 Taft -l Feb. 18, 1930 2,069,330 Rossman Feb. 2, 1937 2,287,687 Kaufman June 23, 1942 2,336,954 Osteen Dec. 14, 1943 

